How to Best Understand the Creative Process

PS: It’s all about the Hero’s Journey – the one you’re on

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” — Joseph Campbell

During the past 50 years, tons of researchers, social scientists, and psychologists have written extensively about the creative process — what it is, how it works, and why it matters. All of their models are deeply considered and relatively easy to understand.

The best model I’ve discovered is one that was never originated to explain the creative process. It was originated to explain the archetypal human adventure we are all on — a model conceived by the mythologist Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth.

Campbell’s original Hero’s Journey model consisted of 17 stages. It’s deep. It’s nuanced. And it is very difficult to remember. At the risk of oversimplifying Campbell’s brilliant construct I offer, below, a modified version of it as conceived by Dr. Beverly Nelson and Joseph Dispenza — a model that captures the essence of Campbell’s wisdom and makes it much easier for the rest of us to apply in our daily life.

Ready? And by “ready”, I mean has the time come in your life when you know in your heart of hearts that it is time for you to go on the adventure of a…